A case of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the parotid gland--an immunohistological study.

We treated a case of adenoid cystic carcinoma that occurred in the right parotid gland of a 51-year-old woman. Although the tumor, including part of the parotid gland, was resected based on a clinical diagnosis of pleomorphic adenoma, it was later diagnosed as adenoid cystic carcinoma of mixed cribriform-solid type by histopathological examination after resection. Therefore, postoperative irradiation with a dose of 51 Gy was performed. Immunohistological examination of the resected specimen showed that the profiles of carbohydrate antigens were Lewis (a-, b+) in both the tumor and surrounding normal parotid tissue. NCC-SG-007 antigen was observed in the tumor tissue but not in the normal parotid gland, suggesting that this antigen was associated with the tumor.